Houston

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Travel Tips for Houston, TX:
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Houston Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Houston
Houston Downtown Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Houston/Downtown
Galveston, TX Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Galveston,_Texas
Texas Gulf Coast Wikitravel Website: http://wikitravel.org/en/Gulf_Coast_(Texas)

Mike Summers - March 2007:

We traveled to Houston to catch a cruise ship from Galveston, TX. We rented a car. We were pleasantly surprised by what Houston and Galveston had to offer. Here's a website for Houston (http://www.visithoustontexas.com/) that's useful for sights to visit. We checked out the San Jacinto Monument which is east of downtown Houston (Website: http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/ ). There is the monument and a nice museum within. We also visited the Houston Space Center (Website: http://www.spacecenter.org/ ), which has lots of interesting space exhibits and information. We then headed to Galveston (Website: http://www.galveston.com/default.asp ). Sights to visit include: Moody Gardens (Website: http://www.galveston.com/moodygardens/ ), Schlitterbahn Waterpark (Website:
http://www.galveston.com/schlitterbahnwaterpark/ ), Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum (Website:
http://www.galveston.com/oceanstar/ ), Sea Wolf Park (Website: http://www.galveston.com/seawolfpark/ ), and many Historic Mansions (Website: http://www.galveston.com/historichomes/ ). Galveston has numerous places to eat. We enjoyed the Brick House Tavern (Website:
http://brickhousetavernandtap.com/locations/galveston/ ) and Willie G's (Website: http://www.williegs.com/galveston/index.asp ) for dinner on two different nights. Near the cruise terminal is the Strand District (Websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand_Historic_District and
http://thestrand.com/ ), which has a variety of shops and more restaurants. Houston and Galveston are solid places to visit.
Enjoy!

Mike Summers - November 2011:

We did a weekend trip to Houston because flights were open. From Hobby Airport there are many options including a public bus #88 (Websites: http://www.ehow.com/info_8259029_houston-hobby-airport-transportation-options.html and
http://www.ridemetro.org/SchedulesMaps/Pdfs/088-hobby.pdf and http://www.ridemetro.org/Default.aspx ) . Houston also has a light rail system (Website: http://www.ridemetro.org/Default.aspx ) but it doesn't connect to the airport. The Preston light-rail stop is by Minute Maid Baseball Park the Home of the Astros. We stayed at the Embassy Suites Downtown (Website: http://www.hilton.com/search/es/us/tx/houston?WT.srch=1 ). Food choices are numerous: Lankford's Grocery for the best burger (Website: http://www.lankfordgrocery.com/ ), Gatlin's for barbecue and brisket (Website: http://gatlinsbbq.com/ ), or Goode Company for seafood or barbecue (Website: http://www.goodecompany.com/our-restaurants.html ). If you want some boots, or you want to look at lots of stuff, head over to the Texas Junk Company (Website:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/texas-junk-company-houston ). You can also visit Saint Arnold Brewing Company for happy hour (Website:
http://www.saintarnold.com/ ). Market Square is downtown Houston’s historic area, on the shore of Buffalo Bayou where the city was founded in the 1830s. Buildings here have a lot of character and it’s a good spot to people watch. Several laid-back restaurants and bars surround Market Square Park (Website: http://www.marketsquarepark.com/) including Warren's, Bitterman’s, Char Barand Treebeard’s. Kick back on a patio with a pilsner and an app and see Houston transition from work to play. If you want the best Greek food you've ever tasted, try Niko Nikos (Website: http://www.nikonikos.com/ ). The Honey Ballz (Loucomades) are a great desert after a Gyro. Houston has a great live music scene. For a mix of fun local and Texas bands, visit the Continental Club (Website: http://www.continentalclub.com/Houston.html ) in Midtown. If country tunes and Texas two-stepping are more your style, check out Armadillo Palace (Website:
http://www.goodecompany.com/our-restaurants/the-armadillo-palace.html ) on Kirby for live music or Rebel's Honky Tonk (Website:
http://rebelshonkytonkhouston.com/) on Washington Avenue where you’ll find a mechanical bull to test your manhood. If you prefer head a few blocks south to Midtown for a little pub crawling. Try the Anvil Bar and Refuge for interesting cocktails (Website:
http://www.anvilhouston.com/ ). You'll want to check out Little Woodrow's (Website: http://www.littlewoodrows.com/locations_midtown.html ) for a smorgasbord of beer options in a traditional ice house vibe. Just a few blocks away is Pub Fiction (Website: http://pubfiction.com/ ) where you’ll find a lot of live music and great food. Wonder bar (Website: http://wonderbarhouston.com/#home ) is an urbane, trippy spot with an intergalactic interior. Get a kick out of German beer culture? Head over to Bar Munich (Website: http://www.barmunich.com/ ). If you want a more alternative scene, Poison Girl (Website: None) on Westheimer has a kitschy décor, large patio and pinball machines for entertainment. Or perhaps the club scene is more your speed making Washington Avenue your destination of choice, with spots such as Sawyer Park (Website: http://sawyerparkhouston.com/ ) and The Drinkery (Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/midtown-drinkery-houston ) to choose from. You can also try the Karbach Brewing Company that was started by a Colorado gentleman (Website: http://www.karbachbrewing.com/ ). For something a little different, witness 250,000 bats emerge at dusk from under the Waugh Drive Bridge, located over Buffalo Bayou between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive. You can watch them from a special deck beside the bridge or take one of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership's Waugh Bridge Bat Colony Pontoon Boat Tours (Websites:
http://www.buffalobayou.org/WaughBatColony.htm and http://www.buffalobayou.org/boattours.html ). After visiting the bats, try some music venues such as 88 Keys (Website: http://88keyshouston.com/ ) Piano Bar, House of Blues (Website:
http://www.houseofblues.com/venues/clubvenues/houston/ ) live music venue, or Pete's Dueling Piano Bar (Website: http://petesduelingpianobar.com/ ). Houston has a lot of nice places to visit, food to eat, adult beverages to drink, and late-night places to enjoy!

Mark Roemer - February 2015:

We decided to take advantage of some empty seats and fly to Houston. Over the past decade, Houston (our fourth-largest city) has become a powerhouse of culture in Texas and the US. It's quite a sprawling city, which requires a rental car to navigate. Make sure you have a Garmin or a mapping app on your phone to get places. Houston seems to be over-shadowed by Austin, but Houston's brag list includes: the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (Website: http://www.rodeohouston.com/ ) usually held in March; the Annual Art Car Parade in April (Website: http://www.thehoustonartcarparade.com/25th-annual-houston-art-car-parade/ ); a walkable Museum District (Website: http://houstonmuseumdistrict.org/ ), with over twenty museums (our favorite was the Museum of Fine Arts and the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum); the 17-block Houston Theatre District (Website: http://www.downtownhouston.org/district/theater/ ) with many nearby restaurants such as Birraporetti's Italian (Website: http://www.birrarestaurant.com/ ), the Blue Fish Sushi (Website: http://www.thebluefishsushi.com/ ), Artista American Contemporary (Website: https://www.cordua.com/artista/ ), and Bistro Lancaster (Website: http://www.thelancaster.com/ ) are the top four on our list. The Buffalo Bayou Trails offers 160 acres of beautiful scenery and skyline views, iconic fountains and artwork, one of the best skate parks in the nation, and a rarity for Houston, sloping terrain with biking and jogging trails. Stretching from Shepherd Drive to Sabine Street between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive, it is one of the country’s great urban parks with walking, biking, and jogging trails for the public's use (Websites:
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0SO8yXav.dUMmEAKwxXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzMms4Y2tpBGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDVklQNTYyXzEEc2VjA3Nj?p=Houston+Buffalo+Bayou&fr=mcsaoffblock and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bayou and http://buffalobayou.org/visit/#buffalo-bayou-park . Like many large cities, you can rent bicycles through the B Cycle Program (Website: https://houston.bcycle.com/ ). As I said earlier, Houston is huge, but a nice place to visit for an overnight during the cooler months.